How to Select an Outsourcing Partner

7. Reports: Before contracting a provider, determine exactly which reports you want it to provide and how often. Some merchants, Pudles says, pay for AnswerNet's standard reporting services, "but then they'll say their CFOs want analytics done in a certain way. I have to then tell the client that they bought only a standard package. So being communicative upfront and throughout the relationship is crucially important to a healthy business interaction."